As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,312, the prior art teaches the reaction of aluminum chloride with manganese metal to produce elemental aluminum, that specific patent being concerned with the reaction of liquid aluminum chloride with solid manganese metal.
The application of that and related technology as disclosed therein is adopted herein by reference. By way of the present process, it has been observed that the presence of a Group II B metal as a catalyst in the reaction of aluminum chloride with manganese results in, inter alia, greater reaction rates, greater yields, and allows lower operating temperatures for the production of alloys containing aluminum and manganese. These and other observed advantages and features of the present invention will come to light as the discussion proceeds.
The primary object of the present invention is to catalytically reduce liquid aluminum chloride with solid powdered manganese in the presence of a Group II B metal or compound thereof to produce aluminum containing alloys.
It is another object of the present invention to produce aluminum-manganese alloys by separating the catalyst metal from the initial reaction product alloy.
A still further important object of the present invention is the production of essentially pure aluminum metal by separating the catalyst metal, manganese metal, and other impurities from the initial reaction product alloy.
These and other important objects and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent in light of the following description and appended claims.